When I was a child, we said grace before our evening meals. During Sunday dinners, my parents generally deferred to my grandfather, who gave thanks in a more religious manner, usually starting with, “Dear Heavenly Father…”. As he spoke, we all held hands and bowed...
On the antiquated subway car that day, Andy discovered that his ears were perfect. Oh but there had been a time when they were not. Kids can be cruel after all. Growing up in St. Joseph, Missouri, Andy was a normal boy except for one thing...
Shya and I went for a walk one summer morning. It was bright, cool and early. I wanted to get a jump on the day and stretch my legs before the heat hit. I had a 7:45am meeting, so we set off at a brisk...
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” -George Bernard Shaw If we are going to talk about getting “old” we have to talk about thoughts. Thoughts are automatic. Our environment stimulates them and we listen to them as though...
Shya said it again. Of course it was spoken in private with no witnesses except our cat Baby, and she can’t talk. Sometimes I must admit what he says is hard to tolerate. Should I brush it off? Walk away? Stand and take it? Or do...
“Start, then persevere until the end” is one way to approach projects. At times this can be a useful strategy. In fact for the two of us, when writing an article, the information sometimes comes fully formed like a mental download and all we need...
The call came early on Sunday morning, the weekend before Christmas. It was my sister Cathy with news that my 91-year-old mom had fallen and was on the way to the hospital. One of those moments where my primal fears are activated: My mom’s life is...
Most of us have been taught to go after the things we want. We’ve been trained to chase our dreams, go for the gold, to pursue happiness. We’ve learned to compete, to achieve, to produce. But very few of us are skilled at relaxing and...
I once saw a beautiful video produced by National Geographic about aspen trees. It showed how groves of quaking aspens – sometimes hillsides that stretch for miles – are not separate individuals but in reality they are one tree sharing a common root system. It...
It was Monday afternoon and we had had a couple of tough days…and nights. The week before Shya and I had both contracted Covid. Sleeping, fever, aches. Shya battled skin so sensitive we needed to find the smoothest sheets in the house or the pain...